The Film Examiner - On Scripting

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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

[Note: This will be the first in a planned series of articles on screenwriting,
covering everything from the basics to more advanced story-structure
techniques. If you’re interested in writing a script, or just seeing how it’s
done, please check back for future additions to this collection.]

What is it about a film that holds
your attention and keeps you interested for an hour-and-a-half or more? Chances
are, in any film you might consider “good”, it was the characters you watched that
truly held your attention. Action can keep you on the edge of your seat, but no
film is 100% action. Even The Fast and
The Furious had to have some dialogue scenes to give the action meaning and
develop the characters enough so that you cared to see what happens to them in
all that action. Great dialogue can make you laugh, cry or both; but even the
repartee in Quentin Tarantino films wouldn’t be brilliant if not for his
characters.Would the five-plus minutes
of dialogue at the start of Pulp Fiction
be as engrossing if Vincent and Jules themselves were not complete,
multi-dimensional characters? Both action and dialogue are expressions of a
character. If you cannot create a complete character, your screenplay will be
lacking in quality, and most likely never become more than just 100 pages
sitting on your hard drive.

In
this article, I’ll present you with a series of questions concerning your
characters that will help you fully realize them. It is all important to
understand, however, that in answering these questions you must not only address
the “how’s” and “what’s” of your character, but also the “why’s” that lie
behind your answers. It’s not enough to know that your Character’s favorite
meal is a t-bone steak; you have to know why. Therein lies your Character’s
soul, and as a writer, you must always know your Character’s soul.

Ready?
Let’s have at it!

SCRIPT CHARACTER FUNDAMENTALS

1)What
is this Character’s role is in the story?

Is he/she your Principle (Main) Character,
a Supporting Character, or a one-scene Featured Character? A Good guy or a Bad
Guy? Chances are you probably know all of this already, but it is a good idea
to write it down, as this is your springboard to the questions you’ll need to
answer about this person you want to invent.

Also, understanding a character’s role
in your story will tell you how much you really need to know about them; after
all, do you really need to know when or where a Featured Character had his
first kiss? Probably not. Let common sense be your guide when deciding how many
of these questions you really need to answer for any given character.

Just as these four “basics” are the
first details you might come to know about a new acquaintance, they are also
the first details of any character you wish to create.

Initially, a character’s name can be
anything, but by the time you’re done fleshing them out, you might want to give
it more thought to see if the one you’ve chosen is really fitting. Luke
Skywalker’s name in the first draft of Star
Wars was Luke Starkiller! Fortunately, George Lucas saw that name as being
at odds with Luke’s personality and role in the story. A name can and should
represent something about your character. Consider the names Han Solo, Willy
Loman and Holly Golightly: they all have something significant to say about the
character they label.

Age and sex are fairly obvious in
their importance, but what about nationality? Your Character’s nationality
might be important if you’re writing a spy thriller, or if you want to make him/her
more ethnic for some reason you feel enriches your story. Keep in mind, though,
if your character is of a nationality other than your own, research the customs
and habits of the land you want them to represent. DON’T GUESS. A “fake”
Frenchman will be noticed, diminish your script, and piss off all of those nice
people at Cannes.

3)What
are your Character’s needs?

The answers to this question are of
paramount importance! Your Character should have both internal and external
needs, and they must complement each other. Sidney Poitier played a man
named Walter Lee Younger in A Raisin in
the Sun, and while his external needs changed over the course of the film, they
always resonated with his one internal need. Walter Lee Younger originally
wanted to open a liquor store with two buddies, but when that tragically fell
through, he shifted his need to buying a home in the suburbs. Both of Walter
Lee Younger’s external needs were representative of his one internal need: to
provide a better life for his family. Your Character’s needs say a lot about
who they are as a person, and how he goes about pursuing them will be the flesh
and blood of your screenplay’s story.

4)What
is your Character’s occupation?

Knowing
your Character’s career might sound silly but consider this: You wouldn’t send
an accountant out to rescue the Ark of the Covenant from the Nazis, nor would
you expect the president of a bank to struggle in his efforts to buy a home in
the suburbs. Knowing your Character’s occupation is sometimes key to
understanding how and why they got involved in your story in the first place. Even
if your Character’s occupation has no bearing on your story, answering this
question provides you an opportunity to better appreciate them. Even if their
occupation is incongruous with their actions, you afford them greater depth. Joan
Wilder didn’t have to be a romance novelist in order to go on her adventure in Romancing the Stone, nor did her
occupation really impact the storyline; however, knowing what Joan did for a
living certainly made her a more interesting character.

GODARD’S THREE (PLUS ONE FROM ME)

Now
that we’ve covered the most fundamental traits of your Character, it’s time to
really breathe life into them. French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard once suggested
that in order to show a complete human being on film, you had to show them
eating, sleeping and making love. I agree with Godard but I would add one other
point to his list: show what they do when they’re alone. Knowing such esoteric
details, whether they’re shown in the script or not, will give you a stronger and
more complete character.

Let’s say you have a character named
Fred, who is a 35-year-old male American nuclear physicist. With the above
points, you can now grow Fred into a person who sleeps in Colorado Rockies
pajamas, eats health food, pays close attention to the needs of his loved ones
and reads books on Kabbalah in his alone-time. Now Fred’s a well-rounded
person, not just another nuclear physicist praying for a grant or tenure. Some
words of warning though, don’t get too eccentric with your answers to these
questions, or you may create a character that is so diverse as to be
unbelievable.

5)What/how
does this Character eat?

Remember
how Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) in Ocean’s
Eleven was almost always shown eating some little thing, like nachos or
whatnot? Or how Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) in The X-Files ate sunflower seeds so regularly? These simple eating
habits spoke volumes about those respective characters. In the case of Rusty
Ryan, he was a man so on-the-go/on-his-toes that he rarely, if ever, had a sit-down
meal. Mulder’s sunflower seeds were indicative of an oral fixation, something
we would go on to discover he shared with his implied biological father, “The
Smoking Man.” So how and what does your
Character eat? This can be an important expression of who they are: a
vegetarian, a health nut, a slob, a cultured epicurean or someone who wolfs down
candy bars to fuel their manic behavior. Think about how your Character lives
their life. The answer to this question should reflect how they fuel that lifestyle.

6)How
does this Character sleep?

Next
on Godard’s list was sleep. Indiana Jones could sleep anywhere: on a train, a
plane or in a jungle. The Narrator (Edward Norton) in Fight Club couldn’t sleep at all! Your Character’s sleeping habits
can be a strong indication of not only their lifestyle, but their state of mind
as well. If your character loses sleep under stress, it says something totally different
about them than if they can sleep in a machine gun nest. Likewise, a character
who is comfortable sleeping in the nude is very different from one who dons flannel
pajamas. Know your Character’s sleeping habits -- not only over the course of
the story you’re telling, but over the course of their whole life.

7)How
does this Character “make love”?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and
suggest that when Godard said we needed to show a character “making love,” he
didn’t mean that we had to show two people humping on-screen in order to know
them as complete human beings. No, I think he meant that we needed to see how
they expressed their love, or even
just friendship, toward others. Everyone has affections for someone or
something. Even the most maladjusted, psychopathic tyrant in history, Adolf
Hitler, is said to have lavished affection on his Dobermans. How your Character
expresses their feelings of warmth or kinship will probably have its roots deep
in that character’s childhood and psyche. Don’t hurry over this particular
aspect of your Character; really give it long, careful thought. Even if there
is no “love interest” in your script, knowing how your Character would express
love can easily be shown in how they relate and interact with other characters.

8)What
does this Character do when they’re alone?

Consider what your character does when
they think no one else can see them. Just as Darth Vader only removes his mask
when alone in his private chamber, most of us only show our true selves to
ourselves. Perhaps you have a character who fears being alone; having to
confront their true nature, thus going to great lengths never to be without
companionship. For other characters, privacy and alone-time might be at such a
premium that, because of their circumstances, they really indulge themselves when
they do get a little privacy. In either of the above cases, the question is
begged – what does this character do when they’re alone?

Does the man who avoids solitary
introspection engage in frivolous and distracting activities when he cannot
find others to be around? If so, what? When granted a reprieve from constantly being
surrounded by others, does the person without privacy take bubble-baths, read
or both?

Remember to not only ask yourself what
your character does when they’re alone, but make sure you recognize why they do
what they do. Know what your answer says about that character, and whether or
not that statement is appropriate. Luke Skywalker probably isn’t the kind of person
who peruses his vast collection of porn in his spare time, but we all know The X-Files’ Fox Mulder is...

FINISHING TOUCHES

Now
that we’ve asked, and hopefully answered, the questions above, the final pieces
needed to create a complete character should fall easily into place. The answers
to the following questions may even be obvious, concerning your Character now,
so much so that you might find your Character answering them for you!

As
mentioned above, the size of any given character’s role will dictate how much
actual detail they will need. For most Supporting, and smaller Featured Characters,
simply addressing questions 1 through 8 should give you all you need to carry
them through the handful of scenes in which they’ll appear. For your Principle
Characters, and meatier Supporting ones, the more details at your disposal, the
better.

9)What
does this Character do for entertainment?

What
is your character’s favorite TV show or movie? Do they have a favorite book? Some
people watch TV; others hate TV but love to read; some enjoy both. This
question may seem very much akin to the previous one (What does your character
do when they’re alone?). To be fair, the questions and their answers may be
very similar, but consider that not all entertainment is experienced alone.
Your character may be a team sports player, like Dante in Clerks, who played street hockey, or “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski, whose life revolved
around his bowling league. Your Character may prefer to go to concerts, the
opera or the theater, not unlike Felix Unger on television’s The Odd Couple. S/he may even be a
barfly in their down time, like too many characters to name! All of these
activities are usually shared with friends, or at the very least experienced
with a group. Knowing what your character does for enjoyment is not synonymous
with knowing what they do when they are alone -- and the differences might
surprise you! Remember, “The Dude” went bowling a lot with Walter & Donny,
but when alone, he toked up in a tub while listening to whale song.

Why
is it so important to know what entertains your character? Few things speak more
about who we are than the games we play or the diversions we embrace.

10)Where does this Character see
themselves in 10 years?

This
question may or may not apply to your Character. Is your character telling you that
they’re a long-term planner, or a feather on the breeze? Dominic Torreto (Vin
Diesel) in The Fast and The Furious
lived his life one quarter-mile at a time. Jay Gatsby spent years amassing his
fortune in hopes of living happily ever after with Daisy. Whether your Character
has a plan, or no plan, it says something important about who they are as a
person.

If
your Character does have a plan, or a dream for the future, make sure to share
it with your audience. More often than not, dreams humanize us; they ground us
and motivate us, and likewise, the characters we create. Even if that dream has
nothing to do with the main plot, we empathize with the character’s dreams and
that empathy will have us rooting for them.

11)What is this Character’s romantic
history?

Discovering the answer to this
question could easily have close ties with knowing how your Character shows
affection. Just as your Character’s entertainment habits may have ties to the
“while alone” question, the questions and answers are certainly related, yet
hardly interchangeable.

Think of your Character’s life before
the events of your plot begin -- this is generally called their “back story.” Past
events and experiences impact each of us uniquely; it is the same with your Character.
One who has had a sparse and unfulfilling romantic history may become cold,
bitter, and guarded like Ebenezer Scrooge. On the other hand, such a romantic
history may lead some other character to be warm and quietly desperate for what
they consider “true romance,” as in the case of Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone. Perhaps your
Character married their childhood sweetheart; the only person they’ve ever
loved. A romantic history of this type could be a strong motivator, as was the
case with Charly Butts (Larry Hankin) in Escape
from Alcatraz needing to be in on the jail break to reunite with his wife.

If your Character’s romantic history
doesn’t come into play within your plot, remember: the more you know about your
Character’s past, the better grasp you’ll have of who they are, their motivations
and their reactions.

12)What do you know about this
Character’s childhood?

Speaking of “back story”, everybody comes
from somewhere; whether a comfortable and loving home in the suburbs or an
inner city orphanage. Few people have as much influence on us as do our
parents. Our so-called “formative years” are so named because the experiences
of our youth do “form” us into the people we become as adults. The lack of
parental love and guidance might make a strong character self-reliant, if
undisciplined; or make a weak character needy and driven to please from a fear
of abandonment. At this point, given all the work we’ve done so far, ask your
character about their childhood and where they come from – I bet they can tell
you all about it with some detail!

13)What is this Character’s relationship
to the other characters in your story?

Once you have a good sense of your
Character as an individual, you need to understand how that character relates
to those with whom they’ll be interacting. If Principle Character “A” is best
friends with Supporting Character “B”, think about why they are friends. What likes,
dislikes and experiences do they share?

How did your characters meet? Are they
childhood friends or did they meet in college? Maybe happenstance threw them
together, like Riggs and Murtaugh in the first Lethal Weapon.

Consider, too, if Principle Character “A”
is part of a group. You’ll need to understand his role within that group. In Ghostbusters, Venkman (Bill Murray) was
the de facto leader, while Stantz and
Spengler (Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis) were alternately Venkman’s sidekicks or
the team’s mad scientist builders. Your Character might be a wild card, an
outsider thrown into the group like Max among Pappagallo’s people in The Road Warrior; a character who is
like a rock tossed into a pond, changing everything.

If your Character has a love interest,
what do they see in each other and why do they want to be in a relationship? Diane
Keaton, in both Annie Hall and Manhattan, played a woman who appealed
to Woody Allen physically, challenged him intellectually and drew him out of
himself socially. Look into both of your characters’ romantic histories and
adapt them so that they resonate and build up to the relationship they share in
your story. Romance is rarely logical, obviously, but there is always “something”
that attracts two people to one another. Find out what draws them together.

In this exercise, you’ll find
character notes and sketches for different characters overlapping. Don’t worry
if you feel you need to abandon one character sketch to work on another at this
point in order to get this final question right! Just as your Character needs
to be “Complete,” you’ll want their relationships with fellow characters to be
well-rounded and dimensional. Put the time in to get it all right; it’s the
best favor you can do for yourself and your story.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Now that you’ve created a complete
character, you’ll probably find them arguing with you regarding what they say
and how they say it in a given scene. Listen to them. If, however, it turns out
that the Character you’ve created is no longer the type of person you need to
perform certain tasks within your storyline, then you have to go back and revisit
the questions above. As I said above, put the time in and get it right. Since
action is an expression of character, I cannot impress upon you enough the
importance of getting your characters right! And remember, too, answering the
above questions is not merely a process of dreaming up the “what’s” and “how’s”
of your Character, but discovering most importantly the “why’s.”

Think well in advance about what sort
of story you want to tell, and what that story’s tone, or feel, should be when
finished. If you’re creating a simple story set in a monotone world where good
guys wear white and bad guys wear black, it is important to realize that your
“good guys” will only be as good as your “bad guys” are bad. Would you have
cheered as loudly when the Death Star exploded if Darth Vader had reasoned with
Princess Leia to turn over the information he wanted and given Alderaan stern
economic sanctions? If your story is a more thoughtful exploration of a
colorful world, then you can get away with a villain who also supports an
animal shelter and is only a bad guy because of extenuating circumstances. The
kind of story you’re telling will dictate what sort of characters populate it
-- make sure they fit.

The late comedian, Marty Feldman, used
to talk about what he called the “internal logic” of a comedy sketch. By this,
Feldman meant that if you have a sketch where everyone is dressed as kangaroos,
you can’t suddenly have a medieval knight walk out without offering some
explanation, or at the very least some acknowledgement. This “internal logic”
applies not only to comedic sketches but to all stories and screenplays as
well. An excellent example of where the “internal logic” of a film broke down
because of a misplaced/poorly constructed character is Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars Episodes I & II. While Jar
Jar was most likely created to appeal to small children, most adults agree that
Binks’ presence was like that of an incredibly annoying elephant in the living
room. Make sure your characters not only fulfill their purposes in your story
but suit your story’s context and tone as well. If a character doesn’t, you can
still make it all work; just acknowledge the dilemma and explain it somehow. The
best solution, though, is to just jettison the elephant and start from scratch.

Good luck with your work and have fun!
Your screenplay is your universe. Rule it well!

****

APPENDIX :

I
have created a worksheet that I fill out when I’m preparing a character for one
of my own scripts. It is by no means carved in stone, so feel free to adapt it at
will. I’m happy to share this worksheet with you here in both Word doc and pdf
file formats:

External
Need:To survive the journey across Van
Dieman’s Land and escape home to his family in Ireland.

Internal
Need:Pearce needs to be with his family, a
husband to his wife and a father to his children.

Role
in Story:Pearce is the main character, and one
member of the lumber gang that escaped MacQuarrie Harbor into the bush in 1823.

Occupation:Pearce
has spent most of his life unemployed and struggling to make ends meet with
various laborer situations back home in Ireland. In Van Dieman’s Land he was
slave labor for a farmer/colonist until his incorrigible ill behavior got him
sent to MacQuarrie Harbor where he became the member of a lumber gang.

What/How
Does S/He Eat:Pearce will eat almost anything,
as per his lifelong poverty, and eats with few social graces. Still, the man
has fond memories of the yearly Christmas goose his mother managed to acquire.

How
Does S/He Sleep:Pearce sleeps like a dead man, usually
collapsing from exhaustion after a hard day’s work. In Van Diemen’s Land, and
over the course of the story, Pearce’s sleep habits become less secure; he
sleeps fitfully and lightly, as he cannot trust the others in his group.

How
Does S/He Show Love:Pearce is a generous and loyal friend,
and a very loving father – these are traits he learned and inherited from his
own father. Pearce would do anything to provide for his family, which is what
lead to his stealing six pairs of shoes, the crime for which he was
transported.

What
Does S/He Do While Alone:Pearce was rarely alone in Ireland,
and never alone in Van Diemen’s Land. In those rre moments when Pearce does
find himself alone, he whistles, humms or sings to himself and, occasionally
pines for Ireland and Colleen while looking at a cameo portrait he has of her
in a locket.

Where
Does S/He Hope To Be In 10 Years:Home in Ireland with his wife, Coleen
and their two children.

Favorite
Entertainment:Pearce enjoys playing cards with
friends, drinking and getting into general mischief as per his hapless,
jack-the-lad nature.

Romantic
History:Pearce and his wife Colleen have known
each other their whole lives. They were, and always have been, the love of each
other’s life. Despite their strict Catholic upbringing, Pearce and Colleen were
not adverse to a little adolescent sexual experimentation and hanky-panky, but
then, they always knew there was no one else in the world for either of them.

A
Few Words On Their Childhood:Pearce grew up poor in a Dublin slum,
the only people his family had that they could rely on were each other. A
Catholic, he grew up resenting the Protestant English and the poverty he felt
was impressed upon him and his kind by them.

Relationship/Dynamic
w/Other Characters:Pearce is one of a few good men in
MacQuarrie Harbor, and later, on the track across Van Diemen’s Land. He is
friends with Dalton and Mather because they share a common sense of right and
wrong, as well as general good nature. For similar reasons Pearce is friendly
with both Kennedy and Brown, but also these men are older and Pearce was raised
to respect old folk. Pearce is always at odds with Greenhill and Travers, the
most evil men in the harbor. On the track, survival becomes a battle of wits
between Pearce and Travers, each man trying to maintain a greater value in the
eyes of the psychotic Greenhill. To his confessor and magistrate, the Rev.
Knopwood Pearce is originally just another convict, but as this story unfolds,
Knopwood sees in Pearce not only the inherent flaws of the Empire’s judicial
system but also the temptation to live of the lives of other men as well.

[*Through Hell’s Gates is a script I wrote
some years back with my writing partner in Australia that was optioned by an
Australian production house.]